Bhola, Aulakh and Chahal acquitted, jail for two

The court of Additional Sessions Judge Sham Lal on Thursday acquitted former Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP)-cum-wrestler-turned-drug lord Jagdish Bhola, along with four others, in the seizure case of 1 kilogram heroin in 2013.

Apart from Bhola, four others acquitted in the case include former SAD leader Maninder Singh, who used to look after the election funds of former SAD MP Rattan Singh Ajnala, businessman Jagjit Singh Chahal, who owned three pharmaceutical units in Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, Dharam Singh and Sandeep Singh.

The court also awarded 12 year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh to Tarsem Singh, a resident of Amritsar, and Balbir Singh from Kapurthala.

Bhola was presented in the court amid tight security, keeping him away from media glare. Bhola had been facing a parallel case alongside the infamous multi crore drugs mafia, which hit the national headlines in the year 2013.

Defence lawyer Darshan Singh said, “Bhola was booked in the heroin case, after convicts – Tarsem and Balbir gave a statement in the court that they used to take heroin from

him. The convicts further named Aulakh, Chahal, Dharam Singh and Sandeep Singh, after which they were arrested,” he said.

The defence lawyer of Bhola also said that the confessional statement of the accused and the co-accused was not admissible in the court and no evidence was available against Bhola, Chahal, Aulakh, Dharam Singh and Sandeep Singh, hence hey were acquitted.

“Moreover, Bhola was made a scapegoat, as he has a rivalry with the ruling Akali government. He was falsely implicated in the case,” the defence lawyer added.

The heroin case was registered by the Lambra police under Jalandhar Rural on December 24, 2013. An FIR no. 109 under Sections 21, 27, 29, 61 and 85, NDPS Act, was registered against the accused by the police.